Hi guys i am new to the forum. I have been thinking of taking the CEH Certification. I have a bunch of question. I hope you guys can help me out. I don't seem to get the answers from the EC Council's website. I have been thinking of taking the 5 day boot camp but i don't think my job allows it and might be doing it by myself.

Ok let's see:

Do you have any pros and cons between online and self-study?Is it better to pass the 5 day bootcamp?About the pre-requisite, anyone been through that process?I don't have the 2 years working on security but i do have a AS degree in IT.Are the book's prices separate from the training price?

One last question for now. Have you been able to get a job with your certification, it's a dumb question but i am just going to go ahead and ask it.

A little bit about myself. I have an AS degree, i have been a NOC Technician for more than a month(my first job). I have a MCP and a CCNA cert as my signature says. and i live in south Florida, US. I love network security and i won't stop until i get into the field. I have heard good things of the CISSP cert, but i think that is just not for me at the moment. Any advice you guys can give me would be appreciated.

To answer some of your questions. I have taken some time ago the iClass from EC-Council and did a lot of additional self-study as well. The instructor did a good job in presenting the details and show you some nice techniques. In a class you also have the possibility to ask the instructor right at the moment when you don't understand something, also discussions throughout of the students are possible. This would be hard when doing self-study. However, I think that the class alone wouldn't be enough to pass the exam, as there are many details you just have to learn in order to pass, but are not directly part of the course.

Eventually there will be more information on this available soon...

Do you have any specific questions about the requirements? If you don't have the 2 years of working experience, there is always the possibility to write them an e-mail or call them and explain your situation. E.g. experience you have gained otherwise, your AS degree, etc. Maybe they will allow you to go for it anyway - something I have read about in the past already a few times. It's often about how you present yourself and what you have done so far.

I am not sure about the books included in the course - the course I took also included the courseware, so I would assume that it is included when going for a course. The courseware alone would cost about 500$ if I remember correctly. But when I think about it, I'm quite sure that courseware is included.

Also I had a job interview some time ago, and though I think CEH alone did certainly not play a major role, it helped me to demonstrate that I am really interested in security and related areas. Doing a course or having a cert is always good and will raise you off from the casual job applicants.

awesec wrote:However, I think that the class alone wouldn't be enough to pass the exam, as there are many details you just have to learn in order to pass, but are not directly part of the course.

This may be the case with the iClass (I went through a different bootcamp, myself,) but definitely wasn't the case, when I took the Intense Schools (now gone) bootcamp. The instructor there was excellent, and went above and beyond the courseware for the class, itself, and really covered a lot more, in depth. That said, while I felt my classs covered enough to pass the test, I feel there was much more to learn outside the class, to be able to truly utilize things in real life. So to me, the class would've been enough to get me past the exam / cert, but definitely didn't cover everything contained in other materials.

I prefer bootcamps, because they are hands-on and give the chance, as awesec noted, to discuss directly with an instructor, as well as the ability to network with other students, and learn from each others experiences and work. I didn't get my current 'full-time' job from getting my CEH, but it definitely influences my work there, a lot. I use the knowledge for many things, including team security awareness, code review, customer security issues, etc. However, I also do a lot of outside consulting, which came about largely from security training (not just CEH) in general.

Doesn't cover all of your questions, but I think if you search the forums a bit, you'll find more answers to some of your questions. A lot of it may fall into different discussion threads, but in the end, I think it's all here.

Oh yeah, and welcome to EH-net!

~ hayabusa ~

"All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved." - Sun Tzu, 'The Art of War'

To be honest, I haven't taken the exam yet, so what I said is only what I assume. Going through the courseware during and after the class showed many things, which were not mentioned in any way by the instructor, however, maybe they aren't even necessary for the exam. My conclusion comes from all the things I studied from the books, where not all of them where part of the course.

I liked the course also especially because the instructor interacted with the students very well, and we even had some time to try out some things in which we were interested but wouldn't be necessary to cover in that much detail for the exam.

Again, the instructor did a great job in my opinion and I really appreciated the whole experience.

JDLB, if you have any more specific questions, please feel free to ask.

JDLB wrote:Hi guys i am new to the forum. I have been thinking of taking the CEH Certification. I have a bunch of question. I hope you guys can help me out. I don't seem to get the answers from the EC Council's website.

Welcome And sorry to hear you didn't find the answers you were looking for. You've certainly ended up in the right place though

Do you have any pros and cons between online and self-study?The first thing to consider would be how like to learn. If you need an instructor to explain things to you and answer questions, then obviously some form of class may be the way for you. If you like going at your own pace, and can do the research (i.e., find forums like this to ask questions in) then self-study is a good option. Personally, I've always preferred self-study options as they're usually less expensive and I enjoy going at my own pace, on my schedule.

Is it better to pass the 5 day bootcamp?Similar to what I stated above. As others have mentioned, being in a class is great to meet other people and other students may ask questions that you wouldn't have thought of. Depending on your security-related experience, a class may be a better route as it'll provide a good foundation for pursuing more advanced certifications.

About the pre-requisite, anyone been through that process? I don't have the 2 years working on security but i do have a AS degree in IT.As stated, you can fill out an application and ask for a waiver to take the course/site for the exam. Your degree will definitely be helpful - but how much it helps depends on what types of courses you took and how many actual computer classes you had (as opposed to the general ed stuff). At the very least, it should help with your foundation of networking and such - along with your CCNA/MCP.

Are the book's prices separate from the training price?You can purchase the courseware directly from EC-Council or a local distributor for self-study. If you sign-up for a course, the books are almost always included in the course fees

One last question for now. Have you been able to get a job with your certification, it's a dumb question but i am just going to go ahead and ask it.I had my first IT job when I earned my CEH originally and I had other certifications/experience by the time I got my next position. While at my first position, it certainly showed my boss and the people I worked with that I had a strong interest in security. I was given security-related tasks and invited to participate in other security discussions. It certainly gave me an opportunity to continue down the security path.

Again, welcome to EH-Net and please ask any other questions you may have.

Really Thanks to all for taking your time, clearing some doubts i have and welcoming to the forum. Oh thanks for the link to the application i couldn't find it. I am right now deciding what to do, whether going self study or online. If i come up with a question i will go ahead and ask.

another factor that could be of influence on your descision is the following: do you have enough experience to apply for the self study possibility? i've heard that getting your approval for this is quite hard. it takes forever and they will turn your past inside out, so i've heard. this helped me to descide to take the bootcamp and be able to apply for the exam right away. hope i've helped!

CISSP, CEH, ECSA, OSCP, OSWP, eCPPT, eWAPT

earning my stripes appears to be a road i must travel alone...with a little help of EH.net

j0rDy wrote:i've heard that getting your approval for this is quite hard. it takes forever and they will turn your past inside out, so i've heard.

I've not heard that before. And there have actually been several people to come through here and say they've been approved to take the exam by just filling out the application and providing the information. I don't think there's much more background checking involved.

My experience and knowledge mirrors BillV's. From those I know who have had to go that route (the experience factor,) so long as they provided the documentation, and things looked in order, I don't think they were overly scrutinized, more so than anyone else applying.

~ hayabusa ~

"All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved." - Sun Tzu, 'The Art of War'

Their recently updated material done by Keatron Evans is pretty good. Way better than the course material I had when I took the class.

Whilst it is not like a bootcamp and therefore there are some limitations you do get to study at your own pace. They have always been great to deal with as well. After having done their online training you qualify to take the exam as if you have done the bootcamp.

If you are really keen on self study give that a try and see whether EC-Council will approve it. You got nothing to lose.

j0rDy wrote:i've heard that getting your approval for this is quite hard. it takes forever and they will turn your past inside out, so i've heard.

I've not heard that before. And there have actually been several people to come through here and say they've been approved to take the exam by just filling out the application and providing the information. I don't think there's much more background checking involved.

hmm, maybe this is just one side of the medal. i got the information from my instructor i took the bootcamp from. maybe he just wants more people taking the course . if this isnt as hard as i think it is, it may be a good way to get my LPT instead of another (expensive) bootcamp. however it is a lot easier with a bootcamp. one week of dedication and youre done. No studying in late hours, no extra work on collecting material...

CISSP, CEH, ECSA, OSCP, OSWP, eCPPT, eWAPT

earning my stripes appears to be a road i must travel alone...with a little help of EH.net